Microsoft Exchange: The Issues

Before installing and configuring electronic mail on a network, you should decide the following issues:

• What electronic mail system will you use? Do you want to communicate with others in a workgroup, or with people on the Internet or other online services? For communicating within one workgroup, Windows 95 provides a complete Microsoft Mail workgroup postoffice and a wizard for setting it up. For communicating among workgroups, you will need to upgrade to Microsoft Mail Server, as described in "Upgrading to Microsoft Mail Server" later in this chapter.
• If you use the built-in Microsoft Mail workgroup postoffice, where will it be located, and who will administer it? The postoffice can reside on any computer in the workgroup. For best results, that computer should have ample hard disk space to contain message files, be accessible to users at all times, and have at least 8 MB of memory (RAM).

  To begin with you should allow approximately 2 MB of storage on the mail server. As the number of users and the size of stored mail messages increases, you will need to increase storage for the postoffice. When you have more than 20 users, consider using a dedicated computer for the workgroup postoffice.

  Be sure to determine the location of the postoffice before you configure Microsoft Exchange. If you choose Microsoft Mail during Setup, Windows 95 runs the Inbox Setup wizard at the end of Setup, but you cannot fully configure Microsoft Exchange if you have not created a postoffice. After Windows 95 Setup, you can configure the Microsoft Mail workgroup postoffice by running the Microsoft Workgroup Postoffice Admin wizard in Control Panel. For information, see "Using the Microsoft Exchange Client with Microsoft Mail Services" later in this chapter.

• Which service providers, such as Microsoft Fax, do users need to connect to? Requirements for connecting to service providers vary depending on the type of service. For example, connecting to The Microsoft Network requires that the user has a modem, Dial-Up Networking, a phone line, and an account from The Microsoft Network. You choose the service providers you want during Setup or afterward in the Mail And Fax option in Control Panel or from within Microsoft Exchange. For details, see "Setting Up the Microsoft Exchange Client" later in this chapter.
• Do you want users to connect to service providers from their individual computers or from the network? For security purposes, a network administrator might want to restrict users from communicating with other service providers from their computers. If you want users to connect to service providers through a gateway on a network server, you must purchase a gateway and an electronic mail system that allows you to connect to a gateway. For example, if you are running Microsoft Exchange with Microsoft Mail workgroup postoffice, you must upgrade the workgroup postoffice to Microsoft Mail Server and purchase a gateway. For information, see "Upgrading to Microsoft Mail Server" and "Microsoft Mail Gateways" later in this chapter.
• Will users connect to the postoffice from a remote site? If so and you are using the Microsoft Mail workgroup postoffice, you need to create a Dial-Up Networking connection to the postoffice and configure a remote access server for dial-up clients. For information, see Chapter 28, "Dial-Up Networking and Mobile Computing."

Note If you install the Microsoft Exchange client and Microsoft Schedule+ 1.0, you will lose group scheduling capabilities.